Trump trails several Democratic candidates by notable margins in new poll

By Devan Cole, CNN President Donald Trump is trailing several Democratic presidential candidates by notable margins in potential 2020 matchups, according to a new national poll released Wednesday.

Wednesday, September 11th 2019, 12:40 PM EDT

Updated:

Wednesday, September 11th 2019, 3:25 PM EDT

By Devan Cole, CNN

President Donald Trump is trailing several Democratic presidential candidates by notable margins in potential 2020 matchups, according to a new national poll released Wednesday.

The new ABC News/Washington Post poll looked at how Trump would perform against five potential general election candidates if the election was held today.

Over Trump, registered voters preferred former Vice President Joe Biden (55% to 40%), Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (52% to 43%), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (51% to 44%), and California Sen. Kamala Harris (50% to 43%). South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is also ahead of the President, but the gap is within the poll's margin of error (47% over 43%).

Though the general election is still more than a year away, a Quinnipiac University poll released in late August yielded similar results, indicating that Trump's campaign may be an uphill battle as no incumbent president has ever polled this poorly against his likely challengers at this point in the campaign. The ABC News/Washington Post survey was released a day before a Democratic primary debate in which 10 of the 20 candidates -- including those beating Trump in the new poll -- will again make their case for why they are best primed to overtake Trump in a general election.

A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that six in 10 Americans say Trump does not deserve to be reelected, reflecting the 63% who felt that way in November 2017.

The ABC/Post poll was conducted by telephone from September 2 to 5, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 points.